‘She is at Eleusis,’ the goddess continued. Haltingly, she explained the situation. Demeter had found Psyche splayed across the steps of the amphitheatre at Eleusis, unconscious. Distraught, Demeter summoned Hekate, who was able to establish two facts very quickly. The first was that a pulse flickered at Psyche’s wrists; she was alive. The second was that she would not be alive for long, since nothing the old goddess did could wake her.
‘Did Persephone do this?’ I snarled. The words were harsh and ugly, torn from my viscera. If Persephone had betrayed me, I would stop at nothing to have my vengeance.
Hekate scoffed. ‘Get that tone out of your voice. The last thing we need right now is a feud between you and the queen of hell. Persephone kept her word. There was an unfortunate mistake, that’s all. Persephone’s own mother is crying her eyes out for Psyche at this very moment. Demeter is very fond ofthe girl, though I think she is always looking for another child to mother.’
My hands tangled in the blankets. ‘What do I do?’ I asked. ‘How do I save her?’
Hekate’s eyes glowed in the thin lamplight like those of a wolf. ‘You understand the full implications of what I said about the souls of gods and mortals, do you not? Once you do, all the rest comes easily. You begged me once already for the solution, and though I did not grant it then, I offer it to you now. We have no other choice.’
It took me a moment to comprehend what Hekate was saying.
‘Apotheosis,’ I whispered. ‘We must make her a god.’
Welcoming a newcomer into the ranks of the gods is no small matter, so it is only by assembly that the exercise of this power is decided. Only one deity has the power to call such an assembly – the same one who had abandoned me to the clutches of Aphrodite and once, long ago, slighted me over a glass of ambrosia.
I infiltrated Zeus’s private quarters as a fly upon the breeze. He occupied the upper rooms of the great palace on Olympus, a sweeping set of chambers that showed wide mountain vistas through the windows. I waited in the silence for hours in the shape of a creeping spider. When I heard the door open and close, I reverted to my true shape.
‘Once you came to my home asking for assistance,’ I said behind him. ‘Now I come to yours asking the same.’
Zeus whirled, lips quivering beneath his long white beard, his hooded eyes wide. ‘Eros?’ he said, disbelieving. I saw something new on the granitelike face of the king of the gods – fear.
‘You might be wondering how I freed myself from theclutches of Aphrodite,’ I continued in a low voice, filled with banked rage. I was gratified to see Zeus shrink back. ‘That’s none of your concern, although I won’t readily forget how you sold me out to her. But fear not, I haven’t come for vengeance. All I want is a favour. Call an assembly to vote on the apotheosis of my wife, Psyche.’
Bafflement, outrage, and finally disapproval chased one another across Zeus’s stern features. He chewed his bearded lip for a moment before answering. ‘That is preposterous. The girl is no one. She has no great deeds to her name, no divine lineage. Apotheosis cannot be granted to one such as this.’
I would not be dissuaded. ‘Don’t you ever wonder,’ I said coldly, ‘when one of your many bastard sons or daughters will grow up to betray you, just as you betrayed your father? Perhaps one of the mortal girls you’ve seized will bring up her child to avenge her honour, or maybe Hera will befriend one of your by-blows rather than trying to destroy them. It’s been centuries since you’ve forsaken her bed, as I well know.’
Zeus’s face stiffened with rage. Sparks of lightning danced around his white head, flickering like fireflies. I smelled the ozone scent of impending thunder, but I held firm. I possessed a power he could not comprehend. I could draw together opposites, humiliate even the Thunderer himself. I was the god of desire. More than that, I had broken free of the prison where Aphrodite bound me. What else was I capable of? I could see Zeus’s mind working behind his storm-coloured eyes.
At last Zeus said, ‘I will send out the word. The assembly will gather before sundown.’
The gods came in groups and singly, riding in chariots or upon flashes of rainbow, or in the shapes of flying creatures. They took their seats in the great hall hollowed out from the heartof Olympus mountain, murmuring to one another about the reason for this summons.
I saw all of this from the dais where I sat with Hekate, Demeter, and Zephyrus. On the other end sat Aphrodite with her husband Hephaestus and her lover Hermes. Hephaestus looked as though he wanted to vanish into the stone, but agile Hermes was whispering something into Aphrodite’s ear as she nodded gravely.
I cursed under my breath. Of course my adopted mother would insist on having the counsel of the god of eloquence himself.
Once the attending gods settled in, it was time for speeches. Aphrodite went first to the gilded podium, bestowing a winning smile upon the crowd. She made a lovely picture, her long dark hair tumbling around her smooth shoulders, and she it knew very well. Every eye was drawn to her.
‘I stand before you this day as the grieving mother of a recalcitrant son,’ she began, her voice ringing out against the stone of the mountainside. ‘My Eros threw in his lot with Psyche, a mortal girl, despite the fact that she was a braggart, cowardly, and wished to use him only for his divine gifts. But he desired her, and against my counsel he took her into his house. Now he seeks her apotheosis. She would be one of us – this vain, grasping girl who has no respect for her betters! If we allow every talentless mortal who catches the eye of a god to ascend to divinity, we will soon find ourselves overrun.’
There were murmurs of assent in the crowd; the gods knew what it was like to have misbehaving children, and all of them loathed mortals who thought themselves our equals. But I noticed something else – the Titans in the crowd, those older elemental gods who looked askance at the grandeur of newOlympus, were not smiling. Aphrodite was a symbol of the new order, but they had known me since the earth was made.
I allowed myself a small smile. It seemed I was not without allies after all.
‘Moreover,’ Aphrodite continued. ‘Psyche swore herself as my handmaiden, and she did not complete her tasks in the allotted time. She did not retrieve the beauty cream I requested. She—’
‘False!’ I cried before I could stop myself. Zephyrus put a hand on my shoulder and Demeter hissed disapprovingly, but I was on my feet in an eyeblink.
The gods were all looking at me now. With a lightness in her voice that did not match the malice of her expression, Aphrodite said, ‘I will hand the podium to my dear son Eros, since he is so eager to account for his defiance.’
She drifted back to her seat. As she stalked past me, she hissed,‘This is for Adonis.’
‘So I should lose my mortal lover in compensation for yours?’ I shot back, but by then she was seated, crossing her delicate ankles.
I took my place and gazed out at the crowd. A thousand perfect faces stared back at me with mingled expectation and indifference. For a single despairing moment, I thought I might as well have tried to persuade a pack of wolves.
I had never been one for public speaking. My gifts were always better exercised in private, and the weight of so many eyes made me want to crawl into a hole. But I could not save Psyche through my silence, and so I began to speak.
